Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-07-13
SHERIDAN'S RIDE.

SHERIDAN'S RIDE.
The war was the occasion of many ex-
citing incidents; of which only COM
paratively small number have been put
in print. .s..s : !. 81 - -,
Splendid acts of individual heroism
on the part of the men who carried the
muskets remain untold, except as they
are related at the freside or in the cir
Gle of comrades. Z. T.: .s.s ..se
And some Of the few great dramatic
incidents of the war, which have touch
ed the hearts and kindled the magma
ton of the people, need very badly to
be correctly told. e @zs 49, F:
It is quite amusing to find how little
basis of fact there is in most of the start
ling dramatic scenes that crowd the
the pages of history. ,.<s..zz, III
Thus, history, painting, poetry and
even music, have portrayed Napoleon
crossing the Alps on q fiery charger.
his great cloak flying abroad in, the
wind. and his hand pointing to the fair
plains of Italy. The sober truth seems
to be that he rode over on MULE and
was careful 10 get off and foot it at the
bad places. .,- ...... .-..s ...s,
Much has been written about the
Duke of Wellington drawing his sword
and shouting. Cup, guards, and at
them!" on the repulse of the Old Guard,
at Waterloo. His own account of the
matter was that he never gave such an
order, and never drew his sword; but
that he did say. ''Let the whole line
advance ,.,,. .,.-> - >,= :.a4
q And then that charming story of
William Tell shooting the apple off his
sons head and then killing the tyrant
Gesler. We are told by the later histor-
ians that the whole thing was the play
wright's creation, and that there never
was such character in history as
William Tell! .. 9T~t># 3 "s.g&s,
Probably the one incident in the
whole war that was the most dramatic,
and that aroused the greater popular
enthusiasm, was that which has come
to be known as Sheridan's ride. His
tory, poetry, and painting have dealt
with it; and still the real truth about it
is not widely understood. Not only is
it not we'll understood, but some cynic-
al doubters have delighted to have
their little fling at the hero of that cpl
sode. We have been seriously told
that the ''Ride'' was nothing more than
one of Thomas Buchanan Reads poet
ical flights; that the presence of Sher-
idan on the field in the afternoon did
not very much affect the splendid re-
suit of the day; that: victory would
have been snatched from defeat with
out him-and other surprising things
of the same kind. #~. = ; " :: g. r
The writer of this sketch is one Of
those who shared the fortunes of the
beaten Union army in the forenoon Of
October 10, 1864, at Cedar Creek; who
was present and witnessed the arrival
of Sheridan about noon; and humbly
participated, at the head of what was
left Of his company, in the glorious
work of the afternoon. And he is hap
py to testify that, while the poetical ac-
count Of the ride is naturally over
drawn, and the popular idea of it is an
exaggerated and erroneous one, still it
was a great achievement, a wonderful
event; and that nothing but the genius
Of Philip Henry Sheridan, and his faith
that his army had not been fairly whip
ped, end had any amount Of fight yet
In it, carried us on to victory in the af-
ternoon. sss .# #
. I believe that not only the people,
not only the great mass Of surviving
veterans. but actually many who were
( upon that field, are not correctly in
formed as to how Sheridan happened
to be absent in the morning, and how
he came to be present in the afternoon.
]. Nobody can begin to understand
how thrilling, how providential. the cpl
sode was without understanding these
things. So let me try to make then,
better understood. HI .=sa.
The Confed erate army in the Shenan'
/ eloah VI alley had been badly beaten Al
Winchester. September -; again a
Fisher Hill, September %; and hael
+ had been pursued away up into thu
upper valley, to Harrison. Here
i finding his commun ications unce rtain
and that his army could not be suppl
Cd from Harper's Ferry, 8 hundred
miles to the rear, with the forays q
Mosby' d guerrillas to contend against
he decided to fall back nearer his base
On October 70 his army was IL the ;l' 20